Companies

NEWS Corp's satellite television arm, DirecTV, could spend up to $US1 billion ($1.335 billion) to enter the wireless high-speed internet market, Rupert Murdoch told analysts on Monday. The 74-year-old left analysts at Citigroup's global media conference in no doubt that he is staking News Corp's future growth on the internet. In the past six months the company has spent $US1.3 billion picking up...

Bear Stearns maintained an "outperform" rating on Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) after industry data indicated that the Internet search giant increased its overseas lead on rivals Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) and Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) unit MSN. Citing data culled by comScore, Bear Stearns said Google's international market share in November rose to 71.3% from...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc. has received about $300 million in promotion credits from Google Inc. as part of its previously announced deal, a top executive said on Tuesday. "Google has given us promotional dollar credits to drive traffic to the tune of about $300 million," Jeffrey Bewkes, Time Warner chief operating officer, told investors on Tuesday at an investors conference. AOL can...

NEW YORK: While doubtful at first, the sale of Knight Ridder seems to be very real. The San Jose Mercury News reports that this week, Knight Ridder executives begin meeting with potential buyers, a process that will take about three weeks. A final decision by the board is at least two months away. Since the possibility of a sale is growing stronger, the real question is how much Knight Ridder can...

NTERNATIONAL media groups, stung by stagnating sales and declining profits, see India as a fast-growing market ripe with opportunity. Efforts to liberalise overseas investment rules have attracted a raft of foreign players including Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, Independent News and Media, Turner International and, most recently, BBC Worldwide. The unit, the commercial arm of the BBC...

Knight Ridder will begin meeting with potential buyers next week in the next step of offering itself for sale under pressure from unhappy shareholders. The presentations for potential buyers will take two or three days each and the entire process could last two to three weeks, according to people familiar with the situation. A Knight Ridder spokesman declined to comment Friday. The San Jose-based...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Viacom has done it. Carl Icahn wants Time Warner to do it. And some think it could make sense for Disney, Sony and General Electric to do it too. Welcome to Splitsville. Now that Viacom has splintered off into two companies, other big media companies could find themselves facing increased pressure to break up or, at the very least, sell off assets. All the major media...

Viacom, the entertainment company controlled by Sumner M. Redstone, said in a statement that it had completed a plan to split itself into two companies, the CBS Corporation and Viacom Inc. Shares of the New York-based companies will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow. They have changed hands on a when-issued basis since Dec. 5. Investors are to receive one CBS share and one...

Bloomberg News, the financial news service, appears to be a bright spot in an industry clouded by transition, job cuts and uncertainty. Bloomberg has hired Roger Simon, the political writer who was unexpectedly laid off from U.S. News and World Report in October, as its chief political correspondent. Mr. Simon, 57, is one of several recent hires by the news service, which is expanding at a time...

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has set up a high-powered committee on information, communication and entertainment (ICE) which will be headed by the Principal Secretary to the PM. The committee would identify new opportunities in the areas of information, communication and entertainment where the government was expected to play a pro-active role to promote Indian media and entertainment...